Playoff Streaks, Over/Under .500 Streaks

Now that the 2006 MLS season is over, we can look again at how MLS teams stack up when looking at the USA's longest playoff streaks. What's changed since the last time I compiled this (April)? This list is limited to the top 4 leagues, plus MLS and the WNBA. Playoff Streaks 1 Detroit Red Wings NHL 15 2 New York Yankees MLB 12 3 Colorado Avalanche NHL 11 3 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 11 5 Indiana Pacers NBA 9 5 San Antonio Spurs NBA 9 5 New Jersey Devils NHL 9 5 Ottawa Senators NHL 9 9 Sacramento Kings NBA 8 9 Los Angeles Sparks WNBA 8 11 Dallas Mavericks NBA 6 12 Colorado Rapids MLS 5 12 New England Revolution MLS 5 12 Detroit Pistons NBA 5 12 New Jersey Nets NBA 5 The Red Wings are leaders after the St. Louis Blues missed out last year. The Los Angeles Galaxy's 10 year streak, good for fifth place, has ended. That leaves the Rapids and Revs tied for the best in MLS. The Atlanta Braves 14 year run is also over. As for the next casualties, the Flyers and Senators will need to recover from poor starts. The NFL's top team is the Indianapolis Colts with 4 years in a row. Of course, making the playoffs isn't always an indication of a good team, thanks to every league other than MLB/NFL allowing a ton of teams to make the playoffs. So here's another, possibly more prestigious list of years in a row over .500: Over .500 Streaks 1 New York Yankees MLB 14 1 Detroit Red Wings NHL 14 1 New Jersey Devils NHL 14 4 Colorado Avalanche NHL 11 4 Philadelphia Flyers NHL 11 6 Boston Red Sox MLB 9 6 San Antonio Spurs NBA 9 6 Dallas Stars NHL 9 9 Oakland Athletics MLB 8 9 Sacramento Kings NBA 8 9 Ottawa Senators NHL 8 12 St. Louis Cardinals MLB 7 13 Houston Astros MLB 6 13 Minnesota Twins MLB 6 13 Dallas Mavericks NBA 6 Here's where the baseball teams get their dues. The 1994 strike season is counted here, although it wasn't in the playoff streak list above. MLS' top team is DC United, with only 3 seasons in a row over .500. The NFL leader is the New England Patriots with 5 straight, same as WNBA leader the Seattle Storm with 5. Under .500 Streaks 1 Pittsburgh Pirates MLB 14 2 Golden State Warriors NBA 12 3 Baltimore Orioles MLB 9 3 Tampa Bay Devil Rays MLB 9 5 Atlanta Hawks NBA 7 5 Arizona Cardinals NFL 7 7 Cincinnati Reds MLB 6 7 Colorado Rockies MLB 6 9 New York Knicks NBA 5 9 Detroit Lions NFL 5 9 Columbus Blue Jackets NHL 5 9 Florida Panthers NHL 5 13 Toronto Raptors NBA 4 13 Houston Texans NFL 4 13 Pittsburgh Penguins NHL 4 13 San Antonio Silver Stars WNBA 4 This is my personal favorite category, where you can see all the laughingstocks in one nice organized list. I guess we can include the Knicks in that category now. Since there are a lot of baseball teams on the over .500 list, it's only fitting that MLB teams dominate this list as well. The Tigers managed to have a good year for once; previously they were tied for second with Golden State. The Milwaukee Brewers would be tied for first, but in 2005 they finished 81-81. Which makes it a lot less exciting for Brewers fans. At least they had something interesting about their team. The top teams in MLS are the Columbus Crew and Real Salt Lake with 2 years in a row.